Tradacoms is an EDI standard introduced in 1982 as a precursor to EDIFACT and subsequently maintained and extended by` GS1 UK. The development of Tradacoms ended in 1995 in favour of the EDIFACT EANCOM subsets. 

However, Tradacoms has endured as a standard and is still widely used, particularly by the retail sector. TrueCommerce provides comprehensive trading solutions using Tradacoms for a wide range of retailers, including Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. 

Tradacoms message structure

A Tradacoms message consists of a header (ORDHDR), the main message (ORDERS) and a footer (ORDTLR). 

Every Tradacoms message will be separated via MHD (Start of Message) and MTR (End of Message) tags. 

Tradacoms includes 25 transactions and additional transactions for the book, news, textiles and Insurance industries. 

Tradacoms process

The messages within a Tradacoms process can be split into the two following groups: 

Customer Facing

These messages are sent from the supplier to the customer and include: 

• Price Information (PRIHDR) 
• Acknowledgement (ACKHDR) 
• Delivery Note (DELHDR) 
• Invoice (INVFIL) 

Supplier Facing 

These messages are sent from the customer to the supplier: 

• Purchase Order (ORDHDR) 
• Delivery Confirmation (DLCHDR) 

• Credit Note (CREHDR) 
• Statement and Remittance (SRMHDR) 
• Stock Snapshot (SNPSTS) 

TrueCommerce facilitates millions of EDI messages across the globe each year that pass through many networks and standards. As a result, TrueCommerce has unrivaled experience in implementing EDI standards such as Tradacoms in businesses of all sizes across hundreds of different countries.  

TrueCommerce makes implementing Tradacoms even easier through a cloud-managed service, which removes the burden of managing the various standards, networks and infrastructure required to keep your most valuable trading relationships running smoothly.

Originating in 1982, Tradacoms was introduced very early in the history of EDI and was primarily designed for domestic trade in the UK retail sector. 

EDIFACT was developed several years later and aimed at standardizing EDI trading by implementing one consistent standard across various European industries.

Tradacoms is domestically used in the UK retail, book, news, textiles and Insurance industries. If your business is planning to start trading with any of these industries, Tradacoms is likely to be the standard. If this is the case, save your business time and resources using a managed service that removes the complication and ensures an efficient and smooth implementation.